A new map script (MountainCoast)

[cephalo]

I also liked to run my maps outside of civ, especially in the early stages of development. All I did was put my function calls at the bottom of the script, then commented them out when I ran the file in Civ. I also had to comment out the Civ includes while Civ was not running. In IDLE you select the block of text and hit Alt+3 I think. It was just two blocks of text to worry about, so it was manageable.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

version 1.0 works great, thanx for the fix

the only issue I notice right now is that only lakes that are VERY small ( 1 tile or similar ) are considered fresh water lakes. bigger lakes ( say 3*3 and bigger ) are considered coast, which doesn't feel right imho. aside from that, it looks perfect. great work!

 

[Grey Fox]

10 tiles of water is considered ocean by standard, that's not a map script thing that's a global define setting (you can change it yourself in the GlobalDefinesAlt.xml) which isn't modified in FfH compared to BtS.

If you want to change it for your game, add this to the GlobalDefinesAlt.xml and change it:

	<Define>
		<DefineName>MIN_WATER_SIZE_FOR_OCEAN</DefineName>
		<iDefineIntVal>10</iDefineIntVal>
	</Define>

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

thanx a lot Grey Fox, that's good to know

regarding starting positions: It's pretty common for a civ to spawn in the upper left corner, deep in ice/tundra territory, which is pretty bad. not sure if there's a way to avoid it, just something that could be improved.

 

[StormbringerGT]

I just thought I would share an awesome map I'm playing right now. Its a very rich detailed setting. I love the bay area to the west and the great plains to the east. To the south is the endless desert and north is the forzen wastes. A craggy spine of mountains split down the middle of the map. Its a very good map! All because of this awesome script! Thanks!

 

[lonkero173]

Yes, the usual map script python interface only allows distinguishing between coast/ocean, at least what I know of it
I have wondered about how the fresh/salt water division worked for some time, but it has been a very low priority, but now that you mention...Does anyone(grey fox?) know if it is possible to alter this from within the script? (I could make an option that would make all water bodies smaller than the main ocean fresh water)

@odalrick
Thanks, good to know. I'm still too used to the C++ way of doing things (would have to declare globally and assign a value in the conditional)
And the varibles..

Spoiler :

I was talking about C in the previous post (the syntax for referencing a static (as in non-pointer) member variable is the same in both, should have stated explicitly ) <RANT for my part/>

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

another screenshot: an unlucky doviello starting spot, you'll notice that they are enclosed in a tiny bit of land :\

funny thing is that every time I've had a civ blocked off by peaks in a small crappy area, it has always been in the top left corner of the map.

 

[Bartholomew]

Hey lonkero, you did say that you included flavor starts, right? In the maps I've been generating recently I've still seen some civs showing up in very unlikely spots, the Lanun in the middle of the continent, the Malakim in the tundra, etc.

I don't have to COMBINE the two files in your download, do I? I'm afraid I'm doing something wrong, here...

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

no flavour starts, he just improved the code used to choose starting locations.

 

[lonkero173]

Yep, flavour starts are not done (thought I have threatened to add them), and at the moment I think I ought to (again) do some rewriting of the starting system to get a decent flavour start (anything that exceeds the quality of an external rearrangement), so be patient...

Probably the reason why the upper left corner produces such bad results (in general, this case is something different entirely (I hope)) is the fact that the starting position algorithm doesn't take tundra/ice into account. (will be fixed in next release).
Apart from that the top left corner doesn't have any special status, so I'm a bit baffled once again.

Also seems to be I need to add some sort of pathfinding to the starting position system...as well as a minimum land area size...that screenshot is another case of "should not be possible" (any mountains produce about as much minus (per tile) as about three good tiles. Also large amounts of water reduce the positions "quality" considerably)

 

[StormbringerGT]

If we use rge FlavourMod 2 in conjuntion with your map, wouldnt that start us in the right spot? Thats what I did my game I posted above.

 

[Jean Elcard]

If we use rge FlavourMod 2 in conjuntion with your map, wouldnt that start us in the right spot? Thats what I did my game I posted above.

It would in most cases, but it seems lonkero doesn't want this:

I think I ought to (again) do some rewriting of the starting system to get a decent flavour start (anything that exceeds the quality of an external rearrangement), so be patient...

And "yes", there is always room for improvement. FlavourMod doesn't work too well with a low number of players for example. I'm curious what lonkero will come up with. Biggest problem in my experience is to find fitting spots for everyone in a viable amount of time without overfitting. It's quite an optimization problem.

 

[lonkero173]

It would in most cases, but it seems lonkero doesn't want this:

On the contrary
, I never said anything on the subject, I only threatened to do something of my own at some stage.
At the time being I heavily recommend using flavourmod (doing so myself atm(not when testing ) ) if you want flavoured starts. And as I said, getting anything better up will take time (if ever succesfull, I might get better things to do...)
And yes, everything with starting plots seems to be quite an optimization problem...

 

[StormbringerGT]

I used flavormod with your script and Im running one of the most awesome games I ever have. I posted it for download above.

 

[giddion]

I used flavormod with your script and Im running one of the most awesome games I ever have. I posted it for download above.

I get a C++ runtime error trying to load that save you posted.

Running patch Q.

 

[StormbringerGT]

Hmm I got patch q, mountain coast and Flavour mod installed. Thats it. Im also using the newest mountaincoast script if that matters.

 

[Deon]

If it helps, there're still forests inappropriate for the terrain (I.e. snow-covered forests on plains).

 

[Jean Elcard]

I get a C++ runtime error trying to load that save you posted. Running patch Q.

Hmm I got patch q, mountain coast and Flavour mod installed. Thats it. Im also using the newest mountaincoast script if that matters.

Installing patch q and the latest version of FlavourMod should allow you to load Stormbingers save game successfully. Which version of lonkero's map script you've installed or whether it is installed at all is irreleavant once the map has been created the first time.

 

[Valkrionn]

I've gotta say, this has become my new favourite map. Very nice work.

 

[Kenjister]

I do have to say, this mapscript is AWESOME! pure, unspoiled awesomeness. I've gotten some of the most fun I've had in a long time with this map. Everything just seems to fit. Mountains large enough, nice occasional passes, plenty of variables.
Great work!